What a whirlwind month of fall (toamna in Romanian)! As fall leaves have nearly all fallen to the ground with me paying little attention, so the last month has fluttered on day by day quickly and inconspicuously.
First off, the exciting news of the month is that we are fully funded for Innovation Weekend, coming up on November 23-24! Thank you all again for your financial support of this cause! We are busy preparing and planning for it to be a great event!
The biggest project of all in the last month was the international Youth Exchange: Be Active, which brought 40 participants from 8 different countries to Causeni through the European Union's Youth in Action Program. It was an amazing, intense 8 days, and it left me completely exhausted.
Eight different countries were represented in the Youth Exchange: Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Italy, and Spain. Talk about organized chaos! The program included energizers; group-building activities; workshops on volunteering, discrimination, stereotypes, and human rights; a democracy simulation; two volunteer projects in the community; intercultural evenings; a Halloween party; Moldova exploration; and lots of intercultural dialogue. New friendships were built, cutting through many geographical, political, social, and language barriers. Causeni was exposed to new cultural ideas, and the culture of Moldova was shared with many who had never experienced anything quite like it.
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| Kids' day in the city center! |
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| They played some fun games that were enjoyed by both kids and participants! |
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| The participants were welcomed into a typical Moldovan village house, where they learned how to cook traditional food. Then of course they got to try it all!! Here you see Ruzan from Armenia, cutting (with thread or floss) pieces of mamaliga (like polenta). The house wine and compot (sweet boiled fruit juice) were also not forgotten! |
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| Tree planting day! The four of us were one strong team. We couldn't do it without each other! |
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| They mayor of Causeni with participants from Turkey on their cultural evening. |
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| Lots of fun dancing to Azerbaijani music! |
I had worked hard up until the start of the event to mobilize volunteers in Causeni, but honestly it didn't go over as well as planned. I realize that I have taken for granted all the opportunities I had growing up to volunteer, to understand the concept of giving back, and to become a leader who is more than just a conductor. The leadership styles I have seen in this country are more inclined to be top-down, meaning there's one leader who directs the work and tells his/her followers what to do. Alternatively, I like to see a democratic style with a leader being the one to be a cheerful, upstanding team member, a great communicator and listener, and a humble servant. This doesn't happen overnight, and even for a great leader, it's a constant battle to live up to these standards. The week was a tough reminder for me that I come from a different cultural upbringing and that I do have high/alternative expectations that may be hard to meet. I still look forward to working with the youth here to share these ideas and build them into the leaders and volunteers I know they can be.
So now, I'm feeling lucky. I get to go on vacation in Athens and Vienna, starting tomorrow! We have two short overnight layovers in Vienna (one on the way there and one on the way back), and then five days in Athens. Although what brings us to Athens is for a marathon, I will be in the cheering section this time due to my injury back in the summer. Now I just need to find the next great idea for where to race in Europe... who's got it and who will join me?!
